Tag Archives: humanitarianism

The Arabic Section of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, the Islamic Studies Program, the Peace and Conflict Studies Program, and the the Health & Societies Program at the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility are pleased to present:

A lecture by Dr. Hani Mowafi, Yale University
War on Humanity: Healthcare under Attack in the Syrian Conflict

Tuesday, March 6, 2018 Scheuer Room at 7:00 p.m.

The Syrian war, now in its 7th year, has been one of the most brutal modern conflicts in the world. With estimates of over half a million deaths since the war’s inception and roughly 13 million displaced the conflict’s effects for Syria and the world will be long lasting. Combatants on all sides but primarily those allied with the Syrian government have used indiscriminate military force against civilian populations. In addition, the deliberate targeting of medical facilities and personnel, in flagrant violation of international law and global norms, has created a new dimension of brutality – one that is being emulated in other conflicts around the world. These violations in the way war is waged have occurred largely with impunity and have grave consequences for the future impact of armed conflict on civilian populations. Dr. Mowafi will discuss some of the unique elements of the Syrian conflict and its impact on civilian populations as well as highlight efforts to combat these developments on both the international and individual level.

Dr. Mowafi is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Chief of the Section of Global Health and International Emergency Medicine at Yale University. His interests are in developing the science and practice of emergency care with emphasis on low- and middle-income countries where the burden of emergency conditions is greatest and is combined with an unmet need for emergency services. Dr. Mowafi’s current research includes evaluation of health data from a network of hospitals operating inside war-affected Syria and modeling household income effects of road traffic injury in rural Uganda. He has 15 years of experience in consulting and research in emergency medicine and global public health.

For further information about this event, please contact Khaled Al-Masri: kalmasr1 *at* swarthmore.edu

A conversation with Sofia Candeias, international lawyer and member of the United Nations Team of Experts on Sexual Violence and the Rule of Law

Friday, February 17th, 2017
4:30 pm Kohlberg 115

Come listen to intimate reflections of those working on the front lines of today’s conflict and post-conflict contexts. In “Reflections from the Field”, a new speaker series at Swarthmore, diplomats, journalists,
activists, and humanitarians will discuss what they do, why they do it and how they came to do it.

An international lawyer and member of the UN Team of Experts on Sexual Violence and the Rule of Law, Sofia Candeias’ work focuses on the promotion
of accountability for sexual violence crimes. In her current role, she covers the global refugee crisis, with a special focus on Iraq and Syria, as well as the Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo and
Mali.

Prior to joining the UN Team of Experts, Sofia was the Criminal Justice Coordinator at the International Center for Transitional Justice where she focused on supporting national efforts on the investigation and prosecution of international crimes in Colombia, Congo, Ivory Coast, Tunisia and Uganda. She has held posts with the UN in Congo, was a member of the Legal Advisory Section of the War Crimes Chamber in Sarajevo, and served as a Legal Officer with the Serious Crimes Unit in UNMISET in East Timor. Sofia began her career in 2003 at the newly established International Criminal Court.

Sponsored by the Department of Political Science, Global Affairs Program at the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility, and Peace and Conflict
Studies.

Dr. Atshan graduated from Harvard University in 2013 with a Ph.D. in Anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies. He holds an M.A. in Social Anthropology from Harvard, an MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School, and a B.A. in Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies from Swarthmore College. He is currently a post-doctoral fellow at the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University.

Over the past six years, Atshan has regularly taught “Introduction to Peace and Justice Studies” in the Peace and Justice Studies Program at Tufts University, where he has also taught courses on “The Arab Spring and Nonviolent Strategic Action” and “Gender, Sexuality, and Human Rights in the Middle East.”

Dr. Atshan designed and taught courses at Harvard and Brown on social movements in the Middle East and the Arab Spring, among other topics. He has earned four of Harvard’s excellence in undergraduate teaching awards along the way.

Sa’ed has won multiple awards and fellowships from important organizations that include the National Science Foundation, the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, Social Science Research Council, and the Paul and Daisy Soros Foundation, and in 2009, he was awarded a Kathryn Davis Fellowship for Peace.

In addition to his work on humanitarian politics and aid intervention, Atshan has conducted research into nonviolent Israeli and Palestinian social movements, countering old characterizations of nonviolence as foreign to the region. Instead he discovers and reveals “co-resistance” or coalition and joint struggles for social justice between Israeli and Palestinian activists.

Professor Atshan has worked with a range of organizations that include Human Rights Watch, the American Civil Liberties Union, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Seeds of Peace International Camp, the Palestinian Negotiations Affairs Department, and Medical Aid for Palestinians, all indicating his commitment to the practical pursuit of peace and justice to which our field aspires.

We look forward to having such an innovative scholar and teacher join our program!